This weekend I finished the installation of my dashcam, the Viofo A129 Pro Duo. This dashcam has both front and rear cameras which connect via a USB (mini) cable. It came with a 6m cable, and I used every inch of it to run the rear camera. This post will focus mainly on how I did it and some tips if you choose to do the same. Tools I found useful: plastic trim tool pliers or trim fastener removal tool (I used a snap-on ASG186B, but there are many like it) fish tape or a stiff wire torx bit to remove the hood release and trim (T-15 or T-20, I forget) My main goal was to mount the rear camera high on the hatch. I didn't mount it on the glass itself because mine is tinted. I also wanted the wiring hidden as much as possible, but without interfering with the side curtain airbags. This meant the most direct way around the headliner was out, so I ran it along the floor instead. From the back, I removed the trim piece that holds the high-mount brake light. This pops out if you tug hard on it. It'll help if you start from one side instead of the middle. I intended to follow the wire for this light to get my USB cable from the hatch lid into the cabin. There is a hole in the sheet metal on the right side that's large enough for a USB plug, but unfortunately the right side conduit is too tight to feed anything through. The left one is virtually empty, so I ended up making a zig-zag run inside the hatch itself. I pulled out the rubber conduit and used fishing tape to run the cable through. From there, I tucked the wire into the hatch seal all the way to where the plastic trim meets the carpeted side panel. I then ran the cable behind the panel diagonally to the base of the rear seat hinge. This was inelegant but necessary. When I tried following corners and crevices, I ran out of cable at the front, and so when I re-ran the cable, I took shortcuts where I could when it wasn't visible. From the rear seat hinge, I ran the cable beneath the seat to the side sill trim piece and inside the door seal. This piece also just pulls out. You'll need the fastener removal tool or pliers to remove the grey fasteners so that you can reattach them to the sill trim. I tried being lazy here by leaving the fasteners in the body, but trying to snap the sill trim back in like this was a waste of time. From the floor, the wire runs up the inside of the dash and up the A-pillar. I removed the A-pillar trim because I wanted to secure the USB cable to the existing wire harness so as to avoid the airbag. From there, I ran it across the top of the windshield to my camera, which is mounted to the right of my mirror. Reattaching the A-pillar trim is a huge pain. I included some pics from the other side so that you can see where the fasteners are. Most likely when you try to reattach it, the bottom or middle fastener will get knocked off and fall to the bottom of the floor. This is when I removed the hood latch handle and trim using a torx bit. While it also helped me run the cable better, the main purpose was to find the fallen A-pillar fasteners. In all, it took me about two hours to do, mainly because I had to re-do it several times. Take your time and make sure the cable isn't blocking anything or in a place where it'll be crushed. A-pillar trim backside. Three fasteners: two white plastic ones and a metal clip
Well, this is my second time at removing the A-pillar trim (the first being when I ran the hardwire power on the right side), so I've had some practice getting it back on. My first time at it I struggled mightily though and had to go digging for that bottom fastener many times. Realistically, I don't think it's possible to build something like this into the factory harness. If there were a way to constantly record using the factory rear-facing camera though, that'd be ideal. It's not the best quality but it's certainly good enough to see license plates behind you.
Thanks for this! I need to do the same camera installation, and have been putting it off for lack of experience.
Nice work, this is how it’s done. I see so many MINI installs where they think they bypassed the airbags but actually didn’t. I did a nearly identical job but down the passenger side. I made it work but drivers is better for that rear wire boot.
Very smart! I put off installation of my rear cam due to concerns over dealing with the headliner. These panels are a piece of cake relative to that. For anyone else interested a piece of advice regarding the A pillar trim: make sure the bottom edge seats perfectly before snapping the rest in place. Make sure the fasteners are on the trip piece itself. It IS a HUGE pain, and there is a bit of luck involved too.
When I coached Street Survival we did airbag demonstrations. I doubt that wire will affect the airbag. One time we launched a bottle on top of the airbag. The science majors in the group concluded the water was compressed. I foolishly didn't take a picture of the bottle. This is the airbag on the way down. I wasn't fast enough with my camera to get the airbag at the apex of its journey, or the item launched on top of the airbag (i think it was the small foam cone since the empty water bottle launched at an earlier Street Survival veered a little too close to the chief launcher's Cayman S (car I subsequently purchased, in avatar on left)) that went much higher.
Oh, and it might not be obvious from the pic, but the easiest way to run the cable in the hatch lid was to insert the camera end of the cable between the headliner and roof (after removing the hatch seal), then reach in through the left conduit hole to grab the cable (there's plenty of space), fish the cable through the conduit, then fish it to the right side to where the high-mount brake light harness is. The last part may be optional too. My cable was a mini USB plug, so if your cable uses a micro USB or USB-C, you might be able to use one of the other holes in the sheet metal.
Ok, so now I have to do this. You ruined any excuses I had. But wait, it's way to cold out...I have to wait till summer, don't I?
